XS Sights Threat Interdiction

I know … we’re a handgun magazine. I got it, so don’t write angry letters. But I know something else, and that something is many (most?) of you own an AR of some kind. Okay, the secret’s out of the bag so let’s just be adult about it. I was recently testing a sort of mid-price range red-dot sight, ostensibly for “hard police use, for duty rifles” and “able to take punishment” and was “tactical” and all that sort of stuff. Except it broke when I tried to turn it on. The knob sort of came off in my fingers and the battery popped out onto the ground. No, really — honest. So there I was standing there with my very favorite Daniel Defense flat-top AR with a broken red-dot sight. Granted, I was in my back-yard, but after having been a street cop for 20-odd years, I immediately thought to myself, “Self, what if I’d really needed that sight right then.” Which I didn’t, at that moment, but you get my drift.

And, I swear, the next day I got a small box from XS Sight Systems, unannounced, and since I wasn’t expecting anything from them, I wondered what was up. Upon opening, it was as if they had read my mind. Their new “Threat Interdiction” sight set is yet another one of those simple things we all should have thought of. Designed to mount on a flat-top rail, they’re off-set to the right side as they come from the package (but you can reverse them for left-side mount too). They are simply a classic XS shallow “V” express-type rear sight and a “Big Dot” tritium front. They are basically a set of pistol sights you can mount on your AR, and are also able to be zeroed with a simple tools they supply in the kit.

So, if your “fill-in-the-blank-here” optical sight takes a dump, you cant the rifle a bit, align your “oh-so-familiar” pistol-type sights — and go back to work. Or, if the object of your attention is suddenly very, very close, you can engage with easy-to-see open sights, with little to no off-set, as you might have with standard front and rear sights. Did they work? You bet, and were stupid-simple to install. Even I could do it. About $150 at full MSRP. For more info: www.americanhandgunner.com/xs-sight-systems or (888) 744-4880
By Roy Huntington